O.C. Board of Education Trustee Long Pham is known for his GOP politics

Orange County Board of Education Trustee Long Pham is apparently going to run for reelection while also running for the 72nd Assembly District. That latter campaign is still in question, but Pham has poured a lot of money into that race and as recently as last week he was telling his associates the he is staying in. But he might be making a big mistake.

Pham represents Area One on the O.C. Board of Education. A close look at the redistricted map of the Board’s Area’s shows that he could easily lose to a Latino challenger as there are over 96,000 Latino voters in Area One, versus 64,367 Asian voters. The key for any Latino challengers would of course be to get Latino voters to the polls. There are also over 89,000 white voters in the district – and if no white candidate emerges, their votes could be the key to victory in Area One. There are no Latino Trustees currently serving on the O.C. Board of Education.

Pham barely beat a Latino incumbent, Felix Rocha, in 2008, by about 900 vores, according to Smart Voter. Rocha at the time appeared to take Pham for granted.

Area One includes the cities of Santa Ana, Fountain Valley, and portions of Garden Grove and Tustin. Santa Ana is dominated by Democratic voters. The Vietnamese voters in the district tend to vote Republican. Pham is a Republican.

Voter demographics in the O.C. Board of Education’s five Areas

Dr. Ken Williams, a personal physician, is running for reelection in Area Three. He is a conservative Republican from Villa Park who used to be disgraced former O.C. Sheriff Mike Carona’s personal doctor. Williams, a Republican, is being challenged this year by Mary Galuska. She is a real mystery. A search on Google came up almost empty. According to Linkedin, she is an “Independent Non-Profit Organization Management Professional.” I also found a document that stated she is a member of the California PTA. If so she might be a candidate put up by the public employees unions.

Williams easily won reelection in 2008, according to Smart Voter, He got twice as many voters as Jerry Winant, who was the more successful of two challengers.